Before starting a surgical procedure, many objects need to be properly arranged in the operating room. Such objects include equipment, the patient, surgical personnel, instruments, and the like. Proper arrangement of these objects in the operating room, before the procedure begins, helps to ensure that the surgical procedure proceeds without unnecessary delays. Traditionally, objects are arranged according to written protocols that may include operating room layouts and written instructions associated with the particular procedure being performed.
In some surgical procedures, navigation equipment such as sensing devices (e.g., tracking cameras, magnetic field sensors, etc.) and tracking devices require arrangement before the procedure starts. Navigation systems employ such navigation equipment to assist users in locating objects. For instance, navigation systems assist surgeons in precisely placing surgical instruments relative to a patient's anatomy. Surgeries in which navigation systems are used include neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery. Typically, the instrument and the anatomy are tracked together with their relative movement shown on a display.
Navigation systems may employ light signals, sound waves, magnetic fields, RF signals, etc. in order to track the position and/or orientation of objects. Tracking devices are attached to the objects being tracked. A localizer, which includes the sensing devices, cooperates with the tracking devices to determine a position of the tracking devices, and ultimately to determine a position and/or orientation of the objects. The navigation system monitors movement of the objects via the tracking devices.
Many navigation systems rely on an unobstructed line-of-sight between the tracking devices and sensing devices. When the line-of-sight is obstructed, signals being transmitted from the tracking devices are not received by the sensing devices. As a result, errors can occur. Typically, in this situation, navigation is discontinued and error messages are conveyed to the user until the line-of-sight returns or the system is reset. This can cause delays to surgical procedures. In other types of navigation systems, such as those that rely on sensing magnetic fields, errors can also occur with respect to placement of the tracking and/or sensing devices. For example, metal in the magnetic field can cause inaccuracies in determining the position and/orientation of objects being tracked.
As a result, there is a need in the art for systems and methods to assist in arranging the tracking devices and/or sensing devices to help reduce possible errors. There is also a need in the art to use such systems and methods to arrange other objects in the operating room based on the particular procedure to be performed.